Thank you to Denote contributors for making such a useful, simple, and 
well-documented notes package.

There is some custom behavior I'd like but can't figure out how to 
achieve it.

I have a subdirectory of my Denote folder called `library/`, and I want 
a convenience command for adding notes to that directory.

I also want to automatically apply the keyword "unread", so that I don't 
have to manually type "unread" every time.

Here is my current code. It creates the note in the correct directory, 
but I can't figure out how to automatically apply the "unread" keyword 
__while still being prompted for the file name__.

     (defun jgf/denote-add-to-library ()
       "Create an entry with keyword 'unread' in the subdirectory 
'library/'."
       (interactive)
       (let ((denote-directory (concat denote-directory "/library")))
         (call-interactively #'denote)))

I've tried a few things along the lines of:

     (call-interactively (lambda () (interactive) (denote nil '("unread"))))

(I'm no ELisp professional, this may be an ugly way of doing it, but the 
core idea is I tried calling `denote` and passing `nil` for parameters I 
still want to be prompted for.)

This creats a note in the "library/" directory with an empty title and 
the tag "unread". This isn't surprising, but is not the behavior I want.

I'd like to still be prompted for everything in `denote-prompts`, 
__including keywords__. If I could at least be prompted for the title 
that would be nice, but ideally I'd be able to add additional keywords 
while automatically setting the "unread" keyword.

On 6/25/23 6:40 PM, Jeffrey Fisher wrote:
> Thank you to Denote contributors for making such a useful, simple, and 
> well-documented notes package.
> 
> There is some custom behavior I'd like but can't figure out how to 
> achieve it.
> 
> I have a subdirectory of my Denote folder called `library/`, and I want 
> a convenience command for adding notes to that directory.
> 
> I also want to automatically apply the keyword "unread", so that I don't 
> have to manually type "unread" every time.
> 
> Here is my current code. It creates the note in the correct directory, 
> but I can't figure out how to automatically apply the "unread" keyword 
> __while still being prompted for the file name__.
> 
>      (defun jgf/denote-add-to-library ()
>        "Create an entry with keyword 'unread' in the subdirectory 
> 'library/'."
>        (interactive)
>        (let ((denote-directory (concat denote-directory "/library")))
>          (call-interactively #'denote)))
> 
> I've tried a few things along the lines of:
> 
>      (call-interactively (lambda () (interactive) (denote nil 
> '("unread"))))
> 
> (I'm no ELisp professional, this may be an ugly way of doing it, but the 
> core idea is I tried calling `denote` and passing `nil` for parameters I 
> still want to be prompted for.)
> 
> This creats a note in the "library/" directory with an empty title and 
> the tag "unread". This isn't surprising, but is not the behavior I want.
> 
> I'd like to still be prompted for everything in `denote-prompts`, 
> __including keywords__. If I could at least be prompted for the title 
> that would be nice, but ideally I'd be able to add additional keywords 
> while automatically setting the "unread" keyword.
> 

Assuming you also want org-mode, here's how I would set it up:

(defun jgf/denote-add-to-library ()
   "Create an entry with keyword 'unread' in the subdirectory 'library/'."
   (interactive)
   (denote (denote-title-prompt)
           (append '("unread") (denote-keywords-prompt))
           'org
           (expand-file-name "library/" (denote-directory))))

The functions `denote-title-prompt' and `denote-keywords-prompt' are 
used to trigger the same completions as the interactive `denote' 
function. I also used `expand-file-name' instead of `concat', but I 
think that mostly comes down to preference.

Hope this helps!

> From: Jeffrey Fisher <jeffrey@jeffreyfisher.net>
> Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2023 21:40:15 -0400
>
> I'd like to still be prompted for everything in `denote-prompts`, 
> __including keywords__. If I could at least be prompted for the title 
> that would be nice, but ideally I'd be able to add additional keywords 
> while automatically setting the "unread" keyword.

Hello Jeffrey,

Check what Graham suggested.  It does what you asked for:

> From: Graham Marlow <graham@mgmarlow.com>
> Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2023 19:34:00 -0700

> [... 43 lines elided]

> Assuming you also want org-mode, here's how I would set it up:
>
> (defun jgf/denote-add-to-library ()
>    "Create an entry with keyword 'unread' in the subdirectory 'library/'."
>    (interactive)
>    (denote (denote-title-prompt)
>            (append '("unread") (denote-keywords-prompt))
>            'org
>            (expand-file-name "library/" (denote-directory))))
>
> The functions `denote-title-prompt' and `denote-keywords-prompt' are 
> used to trigger the same completions as the interactive `denote' 
> function. I also used `expand-file-name' instead of `concat', but I 
> think that mostly comes down to preference.
>
> Hope this helps!

All the best,
Protesilaos (or simply "Prot")

-- 
Protesilaos Stavrou
https://protesilaos.com

Thank you, this does exactly what I want!

P.S. Apologies to Graham for the double message, I'm unfamiliar with 
mailing lists. I want to make sure the followup was recorded in case 
someone else has the same question.